On the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine
“I would like to emphasize that even before the start of the special military operation, Kyiv was negotiating with the West on the supply of air defense systems, combat aircraft, and other heavy equipment to Ukraine.”
If such negotiations have taken place, this only indicates Ukraine's desire to modernize its armed forces. The West did not show any intention to supply modern weapons to Ukraine until the start of a full-scale war. The first Western air defense systems – IRIS-T from Germany – Ukraine received only in October 2022.
Modern tanks – German Leopard 2 and British Challenger 2 – begin to be handed over to Ukraine only in February 2023, while American Abrams are not expected until the end of 2023.
There are still no deliveries of combat aircraft from NATO countries. On January 31, 2023, US President Joe Biden said that he did not support the proposal to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced on February 18 that Ukraine would receive Eurofighter and Typhoon fighters only after the war.
On the allegedly prevented attack by Ukraine and the West on the Donbass
“Then [in December 2021] it became completely clear that the go-ahead for the implementation of aggressive plans was given and they were not going to stop. The threat grew, and every day. The incoming information left no doubt that by February 2022 everything was ready for another bloody punitive action in Donbas.
On November 2, 2021, Ukrayinska Pravda informed :
"According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, as of early November 2021, a group of troops (forces) with a total strength of about 90,000 people is concentrated near our border and in the temporarily occupied territories by the Russian Federation."
On January 24, 2022, the BBC Russian Service reported :
“Tension is not easing on the border between Russia and Ukraine – tens of thousands of servicemen and significant amounts of military equipment are concentrated on it. The United States, Australia and Great Britain have already thought about the removal of their diplomats from Kyiv, and negotiations between Moscow and Washington, including Ukraine, have not yet brought concrete results. <…>
On January 21, Reuters released a new video showing Russian troops gathering near the Ukrainian border.
The transfer of trains with military equipment to the west takes place against the backdrop of the announcement of new Russian-Belarusian exercises “Allied Resolve-2022”. They were announced on January 17 by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. The fact that Russia continues to transfer troops from Siberia and the Far East to the borders with Ukraine, as well as to Belarus, was previously reported by experts from the Conflict Intelligence Team in a joint investigation with Radio Liberty. <…>
At the end of October 2021, the largest American media began to write about the fact that Russia could be preparing an attack on Ukraine, but then the Kiev authorities did not record any unusual maneuvers near their borders / However, towards the end of the year, echelons with equipment in a western direction really went – and first, a grouping of up to 100,000 troops was formed in the border regions, and in the near future, as US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during his visit to Kiev, the number of Russian troops could be doubled.”
The preparation of an offensive operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine against the separatists of Donbass against such a background is an obvious absurdity.
On the circumstances of the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany
“Let me remind you that in the 30s of the last century, the West actually opened the way for the Nazis to power in Germany.”
The statement is extremely strange: the Western powers did not exert any significant influence on the policy of the Weimar Republic. The Nazi Party never enjoyed their support, and could not count on it because of its revanchist foreign policy views. The NSDAP came to power through behind-the-scenes intrigues: in a situation where, due to the position of the Communists, who did not want to enter into a coalition with the Social Democrats, it was impossible to form a parliamentary majority government, President von Hindenburg appointed Hitler, the leader of the largest faction in the Reichstag, as Chancellor.
In his first cabinet, the Nazis controlled only the Ministry of the Interior, in addition, Hermann Goering received the post of minister without portfolio. The ex-Chancellor Franz von Papen became Vice-Chancellor, who expected that, due to Hitler's inexperience, he would actually lead the government.
If the Western powers played some role in the rise of the Nazis to power, it was indirect: due to the difficult conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War, revanchist sentiment arose in Germany, which increased the withdrawal of funds from American investors from Germany against the backdrop of the Great Depression . But much more significant was the role of the Soviet Union, which did not allow the German communists dependent on it to form a coalition with the Social Democrats.
On the failure of the Western policy of economic sanctions
“The West has deployed not only a military, informational, but also an economic front against us. But nowhere has he achieved anything and never will. Moreover, the initiators of the sanctions are punishing themselves: they provoked price increases, job losses, plant closures, an energy crisis in their own countries, and they say to their citizens – we hear this – they say that the Russians are to blame for everything.
The loss of jobs and the closure of enterprises in Western countries are not observed in practice. The unemployment rate in the EU at the beginning of February 2022 was 6.4%, by autumn it had dropped to 6%, now it is at 6.1%. Obviously, there is no influence of war and sanctions.
Industrial production in the EU experienced a decline in 2019, the next year, due to the pandemic, the decline intensified, production increased sharply from mid-2021, after which growth began to slow down, but in general the upward trend continues.
The inflation rate in most EU countries remained extremely low until the beginning of 2021 (in Germany and Italy, at some time, due to the fall in demand caused by the pandemic, it even turned out to be below zero, which is unfavorable for the economy), then even before the war and sanctions – began to grow rapidly, and at the end of 2022 began to decline. This decline can be seen in a variety of countries.
The energy crisis provoked by Russia's decision to cut gas supplies to Europe by 80% (as the IMF's quarterly magazine Finance and Development notes , contrary to its own trade interests) is almost over. Significant gas reserves were accumulated; The warm winter in Europe also contributed to the solution of the problem. At the beginning of January 2023, the price of gas under futures contracts for delivery in February on the Dutch TTF site fell to the lowest level since the beginning of the war – 5 times lower than the maximum of 2022.
On the displacement of the dollar from the system of international settlements
“We will continue to work together with partners on the formation of a stable, secure system of international settlements, independent of both the dollar and other Western reserve currencies, which, with such a policy of Western elites, Western rulers, will inevitably lose their universal character. They do everything with their own hands. It’s not us who reduce settlements in dollars or in other so-called universal currencies – they do everything with their own hands.
According to the SWIFT international system, in 2022 the share of the dollar in international settlements increased by 1.38 percentage points, and over the past two years – by 3.16 percentage points, reaching 41.89%. Following the dollar, the places are occupied by the currencies of other states "unfriendly" to Russia – the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen. The "friendly" Chinese yuan is in fifth place; its share for the year decreased from 3.2% to 1.91%.
